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| Arabia |
| Yemen arrests 7 suspects in attack on UK diplomat |
| 2010-10-08 |
| SAN’A, Yemen — Yemeni authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of seven suspects in the attack on the motorcade of the British embassy’s No. 2 — all from an area in the capital that has become synonymous with militancy. The neighborhood of Nuqum in Yemen’s capital of San’a not only plays host to the U.S. and British embassies but contains a sprawling slum on the eastern half of the city which security officials say is full of Islamist extremists with Al-Qaida connections. A security official explained that police forces don’t regularly patrol the slum for fear of getting killed and only occasionally conduct massive sweeps. He added that wanted militants move freely through the neighborhood disguised as women in all encompassing cloaks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his personal safety. Much of the area consists of shanty towns that have mushroomed in the shadow of the Nuqum mountain, creating a densely populated neighborhood of twisting, unpaved alleys winding between ramshackle buildings. Only a few main roads cut through the area and one of these is the main route from the embassies to downtown San’a. With embassies increasingly turning into impregnable fortresses, militants have shifted their focus to the armored SUVs in diplomatic motorcades, security officials say. Both recent attacks on British convoys, however, only inflicted light damage on the heavily protected vehicles. |
| Posted by:Steve White |